An Post issues stamp to commemorate 300 years of Irish Property Records

18 July 2007

The Registry of Deeds first opened in 1708 and is one of the oldest continuously operating offices in the State.

Its premises are located in Henrietta Street, Dublin, as part of the King’s Inns Complex. The Registry of Deeds building is the third and last of James Gandon’s major public buildings and the only one not to have been destroyed and re-constructed during its lifetime.

The Property Registration Authority (PRA) replaced the Registrar of Deeds and Titles as the “registering authority” in relation to property registration in Ireland in 2006.

The Act setting up the Registry of Deeds was one of the Penal Laws and provides a system of registration of deeds and conveyances affecting land. Registration is based on a Memorial filed in the Registry of Deeds. This Memorial contains the history and provenance of all deeds registered since 1708.

Approximately five million memorials are filed in the Registry. Many famous and influential figures in Irish history have signed these memorials from Jonathan Swift, Wolfe Tone, Henry Grattan and Daniel O’Connell, to more modern figures such as William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory, William Cosgrave and Eamonn de Valera.
In addition to its function as a legal office, offering services to those working in conveyancing, it is also an invaluable resource of genealogical research, as these deeds record all dealings with property in Ireland, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Commenting on the launch Catherine Treacy, Chief Executive of the Property Registration Authority, said: “We are very pleased that An Post have issued a stamp to commemorate the Tercentenary of this organisation.  In addition to this anniversary 2007 also marks 175 years of the continuous operations of the Registry of Deeds from its present location”.

The new stamp, together with a First Day Cover, is available on line at www.irishstamps.ie; at main post offices and by phone at

(01) 705 7400.